Industry guru Dave Taylor answers free tech support questions about a wide variety of business and technical topics, including blogging, Google AdSense, MySpace, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, Mp3 players, management, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft Windows.

Still befuddled? Get immediate live tech support with SupportSpace!

How do I add current weather to my website?

I have a new Web site and I'd really like to be able to add a little weather "bug" to it so people can check on the weather in my neighborhood. I've looked at some sites that offer weather forecasts but am completely befuddled. How do I add a weather forecast box to my Web site?

Dave's Answer:

This is a fun question, and having dug around for a bit, I can see what you mean. Sheesh, there are some highly, highly technical solutions out there. However, there are also some pretty easy forecasts you can get from sites like Weather.com...

The two solutions that seem the easiest are from Weather.com and from Weather Reports.com. Let's look at each.

Weather.com

The site's overrun with advertising, but I have to admit that the little weather "bug" they make available for you to add to your own site - free - is darn attractive:

The greatest reservation I have recommending this one is that you have to sign up for it, including a required mailing address and date of birth. Um, this is just a weather bug, guys, why do you need to know my age? Anyway, sign up and it'll eventually give you a simple script-based line of code. Couldn't be easier:

Obviously, the region code and such are encoded in the "key", but the template value can be changed for different looks, if you're so inclined. Nothing an enthused reverse engineer person couldn't do. :-)

Weather Reports.com

The other site I've found that has weather you can drop on your site is WeatherReports.com. Their format is a lot easier to work with and they don't require any sort of signup.

Here's what one of their code blocks look like (they have six different template sizes):

WeatherReports.com

The code underlying that is very similar to the Weather.com snippet:

You can learn more about their service, including exact details of configuration and more, all at Add Weather to your Site.

For people outside of the United States, there are fewer options, but one notable alternative is WeatherZone, focused on Australia. Another nice, elegant weather bug you can add to your site.

Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Simpy.

Categorized: CGI Scripts and Web Site Programming (Article 4316)
Tagged:
Previous: Can I get Google AdSense reports via email?
Next: Contact groups in Google Gmail?

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

Comments

I use weather pixie (http://weatherpixie.com/)

No need to give out your first born. It's pretty cute, you can choose an avatar in various dress, and it works internationally. I use if for Florida, Afghanistan and Germany (the last two where my eldest are doing the soldier thing as MPs.)

Posted by: Bryan Price at December 16, 2005 1:28 AM

Dave, I have a small weather web page on my website. I want to be able to have special weather statements scroll across the top of my web page. I've tried about every free thing I can find and can't even find it on a lot of pay things. Can you help me and can you respond my email as I'm not on my home puter and may not easily find your page again. Thanks

Posted by: Gary B. at December 1, 2006 1:34 PM

I am also trying to add weather posts to my web site, I will pull the address from a php script so It will be displayed when a golf course is searched.
does anybody know of the best solution.
Golf Community

Posted by: Adam at December 7, 2006 2:19 PM

Posted by: golf community at December 7, 2006 2:25 PM

I love weather underground (the original weather site). http://www.wunderground.com/ They offer a variety of very attractive weather stickers calibrated to your zip code. Their pages could use a bit of a reworking for clarity, but if you type in your zip at the top of the page, get the forecast for your area, then scroll to just below the moon phases chart they will offer you free weather stickers for your web pages. When you click on that offer you are taken to a page with multiple styles of stickers. Click on the style you want and you will be provided the HTML to paste on your website.

Posted by: Becky Bear at January 6, 2007 7:52 PM

Thanks for the tips about Weather Bug!

WW.

Posted by: Wes H at March 12, 2007 7:52 AM

thanks man!

Posted by: web boy at April 28, 2007 1:39 AM

Any idea how to get these same weather bugs into an html e-mail? I've tried the weather.com one and the weatherreports.com one. They work fine online, but when I put the same html in an e-mail, it doesn't show up.

Posted by: Jewels at June 5, 2007 12:43 PM

iBegin offers the most generic, simple, attractive website widget

http://weather.ibegin.com/widget/

try them, it's easy and they don't ask for any personal info beyond a zip code

HTH

Posted by: Grant at June 7, 2007 4:52 PM

I am tired searching for easy to deployable weather components on my site. At present i am using http://www.4wx.com/weather.php? on my site. This works fine for valid zip code but if i enter wrong zipcode it shows only blank image, there is no validation on site. I am looking for generic weather component / utility which i can simply place on my site and if entered wrong zip code it will return me a message result for not found record,

If anyone have idea please let me know.

Posted by: Bhavin at July 10, 2007 10:28 AM

Hi Grant,

Thanks for the iBegin tip. This works great. No advertizing, just what you want: weather info. AND it's customizable.

Cheers
DJ

Posted by: DJ at July 30, 2007 2:00 AM

What is bad, there is no good widgets for Russia... (((

Posted by: Midgard at July 31, 2007 4:56 AM

Does any body knows any Europe weather forecast widgets? This ones great (http://weather.ibegin.com/widget/), but shows only in F, i need in C ;(.

Posted by: Ray at August 27, 2007 6:37 AM

Easy,some chinese sites have free weather forecasts and hey don't ask for any personal info.

http://weather.china.com.cn/cityshow.html?city=58423&sheng=12&citys=58423&Submit=%E9%80%89%E3%80%80%E6%8B%A9

Posted by: coone at September 14, 2007 10:37 AM

Thanks for the tip Dave.

Posted by: Bob at October 6, 2007 10:20 AM

You can always go to places like:

widgetbox.com

They have a range of widgets for everybody. Or you could always make your own.... LOL

Posted by: heepie at October 8, 2007 11:31 AM

If you want to make your own this link may help:

http://www.aspnetresources.com/articles/weather_server_control.aspx

Posted by: heepie at October 8, 2007 11:42 AM

Thanks for advice m8s!

Posted by: Ray at October 15, 2007 12:09 PM

Hi Dave!
How do I add flight searching to my website?
s..-

Posted by: stefan at October 19, 2007 7:34 AM

I found a great, free way to add weather to your Web site: http://weather.weatherbug.com/desktop-weather/web-widgets.html

WeatherBug gives you the LIVE weather and it's LOCAL so you get to pick a station, likely one close by. The one for my neighborhood is literally around the corner from my house!! Love it!

Posted by: Michelle at October 22, 2007 11:59 AM

Weatherzone for aussie looks great!
Thanks for this...

Need it for a new website (click my name) and this is excatly what I am after!

Posted by: Jermayn at May 2, 2008 1:05 AM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!